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Personal Injury Blog

Most Truck Driver Workplace Fatalities Linked to Accidents

Saturday, February 21, 2015

An overwhelming majority of the truck driver workplace accident fatalities in the United States are linked to crashes. Trucking accidents, in fact, account for approximately 65% of all the work place fatalities involving truck drivers in the country. For truck drivers, there is no activity more dangerous than driving a truck.

According to the data, in 2012, approximately 317,000 accidents were reported. These accidents resulted in the deaths of 700 drivers or passengers. Approximately 10,000 drivers were injured in these accidents. One common factor in many of the truck accident fatalities was that they were not wearing their seatbelt at the time.

The report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that in 2012, more than one in three truck drivers who died in accidents, were not wearing seat belts at the time. The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention estimates that as many as 30% of these trucking accident fatalities could have been prevented if the drivers had been wearing seatbelts at the time.

Truck drivers in those states that have primary enforcement seat belt laws for truck drivers were much more likely to report wearing a seat belt while driving. As many as 40% of the drivers overall, reported that they did not wear a seatbelt during every trip.

The researchers speculate that increased enforcement of truck driver seat belt laws could possibly encourage drivers to buckle up while driving. They also recommend modifications to truck engineering and design to provide drivers with improved range of motion and other adjustments that would increase and promote seatbelt use. Currently, many drivers neglect wearing seatbelts, because these are uncomfortable and impede movement.